How Principals of Successful Schools Enact Education Policy: Perceptions From Senior and Middle Leaders

• In Event: School Leadership and Conditions That Support Effective Teaching

Abstract

This article investigates, from the perspective of senior and middle leaders, how secondary principals in England lead their schools to achieve sustainable performance despite policy shifts. Empirical data were drawn from structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses of a questionnaire survey from 309 effective and improved secondary schools in England and longitudinal interview data from a subsample of four case-study schools. The research suggests that what the principals were perceived to be doing successfully was to use policies as opportunities—purposefully, progressively,
and strategically—to regenerate coherent cultures and conditions which support the staff to learn to renew their practice.

Authors

• Qing Gu, University College London Institute of Education

• Pam M. Sammons, University of Oxford

• Junjun Chen, The Education University of Hong Kong